Mazda CX-5 colour guide and prices

If you’re in the market for a mid-size SUV, you could do much worse than taking a look at the Mazda CX-5. From a driver’s point of view, it’s one of the most entertaining options available, the light weight makes it fuel efficient, and there’s bags of room inside.

It’s certainly one of the more handsome cars in this sector – particularly on the larger wheel options – to our eyes, it’s just a little more distinctive than the likes of the Kia Sportage and Ford Kuga. There are nine colour options available, but which is the one for you? We compare them side-by-side.

For a more in-depth look at the different types of paint you can buy check out our car paint types guide.

Non-metallic colours

For those customers who would rather not fork out extra for a coat of paint, Mazda has offered one solid paint finish for the CX-5. In general, buyers prefer metallic paint on the used car market so, unless you intend to keep your car a long time, we’d recommend one of the other options.

Arctic White (£0)

If you really need to save some cash and not pay for one of the pricier options, at least the basic Arctic White works quite well here. There are enough touches of black trim to make it work quite well, though you could argue that on the smaller wheels it still looks a bit basic. It’ll be reasonably easy to sell on but a pain to keep clean.

Metallic colours

The next step up from solid paint are the metallic finishes. By adding small flakes of metal (usually aluminium) into the mixture, it catches the light on a bright day in a way which makes it appear much more distinctive than a regular finish. There’s no need to worry about damaging the finish with an enthusiastic scrub either – a layer of clear coat on the top provides a robust, glossy finish.

Aluminium Silver Metallic (£540)

Aluminium silver has a slightly grey-ish tone when compared to regular silver, which makes it look more modern to us. It’s hardly going to stick out in a car park, but it works well with the Mazda’s sharp contours. It’ll be easy to sell to the used market and easy to keep clean.

Pearlescent finishes

Pearlescent finishes (also known as Mica) offer a slightly more distinctive look than regular metallic paint. This is down to the flakes within the paint – they’re synthetic rather than metallic, and disperse the light rather than reflect it. From some angles, it gives off a very pearl-esque shine, hence the name.

Crystal White Pearl (£540)

Park a Crystal White CX-5 beside an Arctic White model and the extra £540 outlay for the former starts to make sense. The basic tone is slightly more creamy than the free option, while the pearl flake looks brilliant in the sunlight. We think it looks great combined with the optional 19-inch alloy wheels shown in the above image. You’ll need to budget for some trips to the car wash but it won’t give you any problems when you resell it.

Meteor Grey Mica (£540)

A relatively standard dark grey, not dissimilar to what you’d find available on many other manufacturers’ options lists. Completely inoffensive, so will hold its value well on the used market. It’ll also hide most of the worst muck from British roads so you won’t have to spend forever cleaning it.

Jet Black (£540)

Most cars look great in black, but we think in order to have it at its best, it needs just a little more chrome detailing to set it off. Black cars sell everyday on the used market and don’t frequent car washes as often as lighter colours. If you wanted to go for the full ‘mean and moody’ look, Mazda does offer a set of alloy wheels finished in black…

Deep Crystal Blue (£540)

If you’d like just a little splash of colour with your crossover then Deep Crystal Blue might be just your thing. Generally it looks fairly subtle, but the mica flake perks it up on a nice day, and it looks like a quality finish. It’ll hide lots of road dirt before it needs washing and, being a darker colour, it’ll be easy to sell on to the used market.

Blue Reflex (£540)

The image above doesn’t quite match what Blue Reflex looks like in real life. In reality, it’s a little more blue and a little less grey than it appears here. It isn’t really a stand out colour in the range, still looking a little too grey to seem like anything special. It won’t need to much cleaning and, though not as desirable as other colours, it should sell on fairly easily.

Zeal Red Mica (£540)

The burgundy finish of Zeal Red looks quite classy on the CX-5. If you’re going for an SE-L Lux model or above, we’d recommend combining it with the light coloured leather interior for a very smart combination. Reds don’t sell as easily on the used market and take more effort to keep clean but they do, at least, stand out from the sea of monochrome in the car park.

Special finishes

In addition to the regular metallic and pearl finishes, Mazda offers one more shade. Many manufacturers offer special finishes and, normally, it’s the one which they feel suits the car the best, or perhaps the one which they want to be recognised for as a brand.

Soul Red (£660)

It may be the most expensive colour in the range, but it’s also the one which we feel suits the car best. Soul Red really looks a cut above many of the other options here, especially out on the road, where the CX-5’s crisp styling works well with such a bold, modern shade. Cleaning and resale values be damned – at least your CX-5 looks good!

So you’ve picked a colour – what now?

If you’re happy that the Mazda CX-5 comes in a shade that works for you, then head over to our configurator to search for the best deals available. If you want a little more information on the CX-5 and its rivals, then take a look at our full review. Don’t forget to check out our car deals page for our latest discounts.

Save on average £3,600: Between January 2016 and March 2016 carwow buyers saved on average £3,600 off the RRP of car configurations.

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